Mops and brushes are routinely used for cleaning a variety of environments. In particular mops typically have a capacity to absorb liquid, either as an aid to cleaning or to remove unwanted liquid. In use, mop heads become dirty, contaminated and unsanitary and so a variety of disposable mop heads are available which allow the mop head to be discarded without the need for cleaning of the mop head. Many disposable mop heads still require the mop head to be manually removed which may be unpleasant and unsanitary.
There are few cleaning systems which work adequately for airline cabin or airline lavatory cleaning and so cleaning approaches may have to be improvised (for example, using disposable paper towels). If this is done by flight attendants, then this can be an unpleasant and time consuming task. Within the confines of an aircraft, lavatory cleaning may be quite conspicuous to passengers and may create an unfavorable impression of the airline. This may be particularly pronounced if the flight attendant subsequently serves food on board.
Further problems which are particular to aircraft lavatory cleaning include the compact space for both storage and use of a mop or other cleaning system; regulatory requirements that prevent storage of containers of cleaning liquids; and the partial depressurization of the cabin in flight, which can cause liquid containers to leak.
There are a few wringer mop systems which have expandable components as part of the mopping element. These are generally used with either disposable or fixed sponge mop heads and allow the sponge to be folded and compressed against itself during use to aid the draining of liquid held in the sponge. These are generally not configured to maintain a compact shape for space saving during storage, or to load into a cartridge, cassette or dispenser.
Sponge mop heads themselves may be compressed and shrink-wrapped during manufacture to allow space saving during storage, transport and to save retail shelf space. The shrink-wrapping film does not allow significant compression of the sponge. When opened, the sponge lacks structural integrity and rigidity and consequently fails to provide an efficient cleaning surface.